Globally responsible behaviour as a function of intergroup contact and social identification procesesses.

Climate change, pandemics, people searching for refuge from war and declining natural resources; the challenges within a globalized world cannot be solved without the cooperation between people from all over the world. This includes political cooperation, as well as grassroot movements working towards a sustainable and more equal society, and individuals changing the own consumer behavior or lifestyle. Unfortunately, both national and personal interests often conflict with behaviors and measures that would be necessary to mitigate crises. How to overcome those barriers to global responsible behavior? For almost seven decades, psychologists have shown that intergroup contact reduces prejudice against people from other groups. In the context of global environmental and social problems, we propose that contact has potential beyond that. We posit that international contact facilitates identification with the global ingroup of humanity and in turn induces globally responsible behavioral intentions and behaviors. In two manuscripts we present experimental as well as correlational evidence from nine studies (N=2147) supporting the “global contact” hypothesis. Both experimental induced contact (in six studies by the use of a simulated internet chat) and self-reported international contacts led to higher identification and solidarity with humanity compared to different control groups. Global identification and solidarity in turn, were related to higher global responsible attitudes and intentions. Those participants who had simulated contact with distant cultures reported a significantly higher level of identification with humanity compared to participants with close contacts. Climate change, people fleeing from war and poverty, pandemics – the challenges for the international community are enormous. However, the results of this dissertation suggest that this community also has the potential to face such crises. The promotion of positive contacts with people from other parts of the world can foster identities and engagement beyond national borders and interests. 'Know few, care for all.:Table of Contents 1 - Introduction 2 - Method Procedure The chat paradigm Contact condition Control conditions Imagined contact design Manipulations for additional research questions The questionnaire 3 - Get together, feel together, act together: International personal contact increases identification with humanity and global collective action Abstract Introduction International contact Processes underlying intergroup contact effects Contact and collective action The superordinate identity of humanity The model and preliminary results Study 1 Methods Results and discussion Study 2 Methods Results Discussion Empirical findings Study designs Advantages of contact interventions Superordinate categories Status groups Conclusion 4 – Know few, care for all. Does international contact increase global identification and responsible global action? Abstract Introduction Intergroup contact Contact and Pro-social action Generalization and recategorization Levels of identification The Present Research Overview of the Studies Method Procedure and measures Results Meta-Analysis Testing the salience of exclusive common ingroups and contact group similarity as moderators General Discussion The recategorization hypothesis Influence of lower level categories Conclusion 5 - Discussion Theoretical impulse Application in the field Conclusion and appeal Supplemental material Supplemental Material to Chapter 3 Supplemental Material to Chapter 4 References Appendi